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CLEBURNE, Texas – Jesus Sanchez struck out a franchise-best 12 batters in his final start of 2018, and the Railroaders hit four homers in a 9-1 win in the series opener against the Texas AirHogs at The Depot on Saturday night.

Sanchez racked up 12 strikeouts and allowed just two hits with no walks over six scoreless innings, while Mike Gulino also hit Cleburne’s second inside-the-park homer of 2018 as part of the season-best four-homer night.

Angelo Gumbs opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the 1st inning, and after the teams exchanged zeroes, Gulino led off the 7th with an inside-the-park homer that resulted from a missed dive from center-fielder Javion Randle on a liner. Angel Rosa later clubbed the first of his two homers – a two-run shot that also scored Alex Polson.

Cleburne loaded the bases with nobody out in the 8th, and Gulino added to the lead with a sacrifice fly before Rosa hit a three-run homer down the left-field line to make it 9-0.

The AirHogs broke up the shutout bit on Cao Jie’s RBI single off of Shawn Blackwell in the 9th inning.

Cleburne pitching combined for a season-best 16 strikeouts, and Will Mathis struck out a pair in the 7th before Roman Gomez went 1-2-3 with two strikeouts in the 8th.

Levi Scott went 1-for-3 with a double and a walk, and Gumbs reached three times – a homer, double and a walk. Alex Polston went 1-for-4 and Justin Byrd went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

The teams play the penultimate game of 2018 on Sunday night at AirHogs Stadium. First pitch time is set for 6:05 p.m. and the Railroaders will throw RHP Josh Hodges.

Cleburne returns home for the 2018 season finale on Monday, Sept. 3 with a special first pitch time of 1:05 p.m., and all ticket/promotional information can be found at www.railroaderbaseball.com or by calling (817) 945-8705.